Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Almost 50 GADRA alumni graduate from Rhodes this week!
  • How it feels to go without water for seven days
  • Cleaning Kowie River and Fairview Spring for World Water Day
  • Local soccer teams avoid SAB Regional League relegation!
  • Bongani Fule: new Eastern Cape Junior Lightweight champion!
  • Bathurst Book Fair is back with a bang!
  • In the words of Nelson Mandela, “To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity”
  • Avbob 2023 Poetry Competition Winner: Sithembele Isaac Xhegwana of Makhanda
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»OPINION & ANALYSIS»Seeing things clearly
OPINION & ANALYSIS

Seeing things clearly

Sue MaclennanBy Sue MaclennanSeptember 17, 2018Updated:September 17, 2018No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

On Sunday 9 September, Grocott’s Mail had the extraordinary privilege of sharing the excitement and enthusiasm of 35 Grahamstown (Makhanda) school children as they discovered new ways of seeing their surroundings.

We were privileged, too, to work alongside mentors from WESSA, Rhodes Journalism,  Zoology and Entomology, the South African National Institute of Biodiversity, and the children’s own amazing teachers. Everyone braved a cold and drizzly early Sunday morning start to make the most of a chance to share photographic skills, and learn how to spot small wildlife most of us would never have guessed was in the Makana Botanical Gardens.

If the future of our natural heritage is in the hands of young people like this (pupils and student mentors included), there’s definitely hope.

This was the second successful Photo Walk organised by the Grocott’s team – the first was just over a month ago at the Joza Youth Hub, in partnership with our Syracuse, New York ‘Our Town, Your Town’ project across the Atlantic. This time, it was to encourage children to enter the WESSA #CelebrateNaturalHeritage photographic competition.

The competition closes at midnight today and there are three categories: scholar, adult amateur and professional. Links to more details at the end of the story on page 12.

In 2016 the Election Connection team put Makana councillor candidates and political parties on the spot in a series of public debates leading up to the local government elections. Once again, we’ve teamed up with local media partners and Rhodes Politics and Journalism schools to bring panel discussions and debates that we hope will make you a better informed voter.

What is the constitutional responsibility of the municipality – and what recourse do citizens have when they’re dissatisfied with service delivery?

The rates debate has raged on social media for weeks. Wednesday’s debate at the Albany Recreation Hall (details on page 4) is a chance to hear the arguments of some of the main players, first-hand. With governance the focus, don’t miss the first in #TheDebate2019 series leading up to the national elections.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow that the young people in our town who are our greatest hope, are also at the greatest risk of the tide of substance abuse creeping in.

The police statistics tell a story, but the real stories are the homes left broke and broken-hearted by a family member enslaved by the drug trade as an addicted user. Living with someone who has an addiction is painful because the person you know isn’t really there.

A Grahamstown magistrate said earlier this year, passing judgment in a brutal drug-fuelled murder, “There is no way a person could be in their right mind and do something like that to another human being.”

  • This is the editorial published on Friday 14 September and refers to articles in that print edition of the newspaper.
Previous ArticleMeaton secures second in Makro MTB
Next Article Councillor warns on pay hike
Sue Maclennan
  • Twitter

Local journalism

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.